Page 62 of The Sacrifice

I recognize Mayce’s hands on the backs of my shoulders. They are the softest of the Kings. “Quintessa, stop. You’re bleeding. This is futile,” he admonishes me but cradles my hands and blows cool breath upon them while I break down, buckle, and fall against the Fae king’s chest. Sobs tear from my throat as I consider my dragon, my dragon!

Clinging to his robes regardless of how I bloody them, I shake my head violently and whimper, “He’s your partner, Mayce. We can’t...” my voice rasps, turning dry, and I battle the tears struggling to break free. “I can’t...there must be some way to get through.”

Merikh grips my hair, yanking me back, away from Mayce and burning his black eyes against mine. “Accept your fate, little dove. It’s your fucking fault. And now you’ll come with us,” he barks and nods to Kyan. “And suffer the consequences, the retribution of what you’ve done.”

This time, I don’t kiss him. Because I’m not that fucking desperate. Or weak. Or worthless. Instead, I shove him. I shove him so hard, I don’t care how it rips strands of my hair right from their roots. It’s hard enough to upend him, and before Merikh can have the chance to rise, I lunge and put all my weight on him. Hands around his throat, I straddle him and seethe, “If there’s retribution, I’ll fucking pay it. But. Not. From. You. Sucker.”

His eyes widen so much, they almost free from their sockets. “What the fuck did you just call me?” Merikh’s skin grows paler, more bloodless. He unleashes his claws, ready to plunge them inside me.

Now, it’s Kyan. Sweet, selfless Kyan who gets his arms around me and lifts me off Merikh before those claws can land. He steps between us as Merikh gets to his feet and unleashes a low growl at the vampire. “Let it go, Mer.”

I’m almost ready to kick and thrash and hurl myself at the vampire, but a sudden and familiar yipping bark has us all pausing. A thrill surges inside me, accompanied by a comforting rush of warmth at the sound of my fox.

“Jinxy!” I squeal, and Kyan releases me, so I may welcome the rook fox who scrambles out of the brush of the woods. His tails wag behind him, and I lower myself to one knee as he pounces, underestimating his weight which knocks me down.

Merikh grumbles behind me. “And she still loves the same damn creature who brought the curse.”

I wrinkle my nose but bury my face in the fox’s scruff. Kronos or the Hag must have told them about how she used a cursed spell upon my little Jinx. But as I take a moment to survey him, to watch him tilt his head to the side and blink, I can’t help but notice the way the seam of his lips turn down and the way his eyes falter, and how his head bows. Is he...apologizing to me? When a sudden thought crosses my mind, a thought so random and wild, it could only come from my crazed mind, I cradle the sides of Jinx’s face and ask him, “Do you know the way, Jinxy?”

He licks his muzzle, then his nose, and cocks his head, but that seam spreads. My nerves ignite at the sight of that seam lifting, those lips curling. I nearly lurch when the fox does, when he scampers out of my arms, twirls into a playful lunge, then twirls again in a prompt for me to follow. And the second he does, the stem of his rump grows a fourth tail.

* * *

“How did we miss this?” wonders Mayce, dumbfounded by the tunnel where Jinx has led us.

Kyan shrugs. “It wouldn’t matter. That hole is far too narrow for any of us to fit,” he responds, gesturing to the narrow burrow which seems like a groundhog’s hole. Or one of those bony Waste rats.

Horror seeps into my very bone marrow when the understanding shatters against me: “I can fit,” I softly say, almost hoping they don’t hear me.

Merikh is the first to step toward me. And growls. “No, little dove.”

I advance toward him, stand on my tiptoes, but I’m still too far away, too far from his mouth that I want. “I have to try. And I will try.”

“You will come with Kyan. And me. Now.”

I shake my head. Stare down those thunderous black eyes. “No. I’m going down the hole. I’ll find Drago. I’ll bring him back.”

“Go, Quinny,” Kyan tells me while brushing his knuckles across my cheek. The moment his fingers touch me, I jolt, understanding “Quinny" is his name for me.

The other kings meet my eyes and nod in a silent gesture of encouragement, but Merikh’s is lackluster when he lowers his gaze a moment. However, I don’t just climb into that dark hole. With tears heating my eyes, I stare back at my boys, only three, and nod, thankful for what they’ve given me this far.

I jump.

I leap.

I plunge into that black hole. Squeeze my body as narrow and thin as it possibly can fit...

And hope.

46

I become gray.

QUINTESSA

I wish there were spiders. Because I wouldn’t be alone.

The tunnel is too small to stand.

---